The needles of white pine, Pinus strobus, are rich in vitamin C and can be used as a refreshing tea or the bath. As a child I used to play with the brown fallen needles to make giant nests and insulate winter forts.

I spent many hours as a child in the arms of a white pine.

The branches of this perfect tree were spaced just right for climbing higher and higher. Near the top a fork formed, ideal for sitting and surveying the neighborhood. My best friend and I called the spot the “crow’s nest,” and that is where we took on the persona of squirrels and hung out.

I remember on one particularly windy day we fearlessly climbed our tree. The top swayed with the wind and we joyfully waved our arms and shouted, our breath full of the freshness of the day and our hearts soaring like the real crows above us.

Our revelry ended abruptly when an adult showed up on the scene and franticly ordered us to descend. I remember feeling no fear until her suggestion of it wafted up to me, and then like a kitten I clutched the trunk and panicked. Fortunately that moment only temporarily grounded us and we returned to the nurturing presence of the tree again and again.

I visited that tree today. Stripped of it’s branches some 40 years later, it stands more like an obelisk than the tree of my youth, but I still love to be near it. The smell of the sap reminds me of sticky hands and feet at the end of a long day of climbing.

The way the sun illuminates the long soft needles catches my heart and hurls me into childhood memories.

As I walked around the tree today I wondered how many kids still climb trees, or even spend hours and hours outside, day after day. I couldn’t help but think they might fall out of the tree “snapping” or texting or whatever it is they do these days. And then I thought about how much this tree taught me as a child that is still with me:

Strength - something about the unwavering strength of my tree, withstanding adverse weather, rising into the sky with a stance of power, plus the muscles I built simply from regular climbing imbued me with confidence in my strength. Later this strength helped me advocate for myself and persevere in my endeavors.

Connection - the roots of the white pine are close to the surface and I used to love to trace them as they reached outward. Here, close to the ground I studied the blanket of spent needles, the ants that crawled over and under, the spongey feel of the loam around the roots and the pattern of connecting roots from neighboring pines. Aloft in the branches I felt how the tree met the sky above, greeted the birds and offered a broader perspective of my world. As an adult I deeply value relationships, even brief interactions with people I meet along a busy day. I want to make an effort every day to connect honestly with others and especially make space to honor my relationships with nature.

Love - long before I ever heard of such a thing, I was a tree-hugger. I'd wrap my arms around the trunk and press my cheek against the scratchy bark. I would listen and imagine I could feel the heartbeat of the tree pulsate through me. The exercise was meditative and reassuring. From some place deep within me I understood the importance of unconditional love and acceptance. An inner knowing that we are loved and not alone feeds our sense of strength and connection.

These three qualities allow us to be like a tree, passing them on to others by example, through service and by giving from the heart. I think about my parents and so many mentors throughout my life who have stood strong and loving for me, and I pray that I can do the same for others. Want to practice being more like a tree?Put your arms up and sway to this song: Branching Out by John Gorka.

I have always been fascinated with the idea that the left and right sides of the brain have unique “personalities” and that by learning more about these differences one might achieve better brain balance. Apparently, however, a lot of what pop psychology has fed us about these characteristics over the past three or four decades is not deeply rooted in science. Iain McGilchrist, former Oxford literary scholar, left the world of poetry to study psychiatry and dig into what exactly is going on in the two hemispheres of the brain. In his book, The Master and His Emissary, he takes a deep look at new research on the brain and sets forth an intriguing theory about societal focus on left brain achievements at the expense of the skills of the right brain.

Before you nod your head and say, ah yes, I remember, the right side of the brain is creative and emotional and the left side is analytical and logical, hold up.

It turns out that both hemispheres are creative and both sides are analytical. Rather than each side of the brain taking on different tasks, it turns out that they tackle the same tasks, but do so in different ways. What’s new here is perspective.

If you had the opportunity to hold a brain you might naturally hold one hemisphere in each hand. You might also notice that the two halves are connected quite firmly by a sturdy tract of tissue called the corpuscallosum, a term that literally means “tough body.” When I was in school we were taught that nerve fibers crossed through the corpus callosum so the two hemispheres could communicate with each other. What scientists have learned since is that one of the main functions of the corpus callosum is inhibition, acting a bit like a traffic light regulating the flow of collaboration between the two.

The ratio of the corpus callosum to the hemispheres of the brain has changed over the course of evolution. This shift highlights the fact that the brain has become more divided and asymmetrical. If you look closely again at the brain in your hands you will see that the frontal lobe on the left extends beyond the right and the occipital lobe on the right extends beyond the left.

So what does all this mean?

We now know that an animal relies on it's left hemisphere to successfully deal with what it knows is important, for example grabbing a piece of food, or building a home. At the same time, the animal uses it’s right hemisphere to stay alert to possibilities of anything that might happen, such as a sudden danger or opportunity for romance.

In humans also the left hemisphere has a laser focus on the details. It has no ability to see the big picture, or imagine how things might be. It is focused on what is known, such as a red apple which should be grasped and eaten.

Nuance, humor and metaphor are lost on the left hemisphere and indeed a person who has suffered a right sided brain injury may lose their ability to read between the lines, laugh at a subtle joke or imagine what might happen next.

The right hemisphere, on the other hand, takes a broad assessment of the environment, with an awareness of possibilities and an ability to calculate variabilities. It understands context and makes sense of emotional expressions. It sees how we fit into our environment and the role we play to contribute to the greater whole.

The right hemisphere takes in the meaning of life, rather than focusing primarily on the mechanical. While the left sees the body as an assemblage of parts, the right sees the body as a human being, part of a family, community and population.

The left side of the brain interprets things very literally. The ability to understand body language or vocal emphasis are lost without right side brain function. It turns out that the right side of our brain has enough of the big picture to value what the left brain has to offer. The left brain, on the other hand, has too narrow a perspective to understand what the right brings to the table.

A phenomenon of denial becomes evident when someone suffers a right hemispheric stroke which can leave a person completely unaware of the deficits left by the brain injury. In this case they may even deny that anything is wrong. Because of this it is easier to rehabilitate someone with a left hemispheric stroke than a right. Without right-sided brain function one cannot see how the parts of the body work together and the sense of body image is lost.

The world of the left hemisphere is a closed system, says McGillchrist, based on what is known and immediate. It can achieve perfection at the price of emptiness. In today’s world, he claims, our reverence for the achievements of the left side of the brain has diverted us from happiness and left us with resentment, loneliness and an “explosion of mental illness.”

Our over reliance on the left side of our brain has left us without the tools we need to take the wealth of information that constantly bombards us and use it in a way that is truly wise.

We now prioritize the virtual over the real thing, convincing ourselves that the technical world is authentic.

The left hemisphere is very convincing because it cuts off anything that disagrees with or distracts it from what it is laser focused on. This is where the title of McGilchrist’s book comes in. Based on an ancient fable in which an arrogant emissary, who believes he is smarter than his master, adopts his master's cloak and impersonates him, to no good end. The master, he explains, is the right side of the brain. The emissary is the left. The master sees the world with wisdom - with a broader perspective as a world of individual living beings, ever-evolving and interconnected and never perfectly known.

I used to think 50 was old.

He’s in his 80’s now, but shortly after his 50th birthday he suffered his first cardiovascular event: a pulmonary embolism. He was at his office that day, strolling down the wide hallway, when he fainted. I still remember the feeling of terror that gripped me when I saw him in the hospital. I was only a teen, and seeing my dad stuck in bed, hooked up to machines…in a nighty, no less…traumatized my image of him as immortal.

For decades after I spent a lot of time worrying he might die at any moment.

Now that he is officially old (according to my new parameters) I can reflect on some of the factors that saved his life several times over three decades. Conventional medical intervention definitely played a role: he wouldn’t be with us now without it. But I have no doubt that diet, exercise, enthusiasm for life and a deep sense of being loved were just as important.

A symphony of healing gave me the opportunity to know my father in my adult years; something I treasure every single day.

Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of people…not just men, as is so commonly thought…but everyone is included in this group. It is the number one cause of death worldwide and yet preventive care amounts to low-cholesterol diets, exercise and baby aspirin.

As a natural health practitioner I do have a few more options for my patients: hawthorn and reishi are two of my favorites. But when it comes to managing cholesterol naturally, or high blood pressure, some people need more support.

This is a little bit of the story behind why I asked Guido Masé to teach a class on natural cardiovascular care last June at the Allies for Plants and People Symposium. After that class I was so motivated and inspired to share his work with my patients, my colleagues and anyone willing to listen. And I wanted to learn more.

That is why Natural Cardio Care: An Herbalist’s Perspective with Guido Masé is here.

It is time to bump up our game when thinking about longevity.

We need to equip ourselves with a depth of knowledge about the plants and natural methods that strengthen and protect the cardiovascular system.

I will be in class Monday night, ready to take notes, eager to learn and ask questions of one of the brightest minds in the herbal world, Guido Masé. I hope you will be there too.

Guest speakers each week add to the rich content with their own unique perspective on heart health.

While the course runs live for 6 weeks, you have 7 months to complete and review the material.

BEST of all? Using weekly quizzes and assessments (optional of course!) Guido guides you through the steps so that you can create your own custom, natural cardio care protocol. In just 6 weeks you will be well on your way to better cardiovascular health.

Plants under stress begin to overproduce important ecological pigments called “polyphenols” These precious micronutrients abound in berries and other highly pigmented fruits and vegetables. The hawthorn tree is no exception.

The berries, leaves and flowers of this amazing shrub provide vital nutrients for vascular integrity and are used in tonics by herbalists as “food for the heart."

In his blog, Guido Masé writes about the mythology of this plant as a symbol of immortality. He writes:

“Picture an old clearing, now surrounded by forest on all sides, where a Hawthorn has been living for a hundred years. She's more ragged now than in her youth, but still produces abundant berries, and remembers the farmer who planted and tended her many years before. It's late September, early morning, the air is cool and smells moist but not heavy. A thrush on her way south flies in. There are asters and goldenrods in the middle of the clearing, mixed with the grasses. Field mice look up as the thrush alights on a branch.

Try to feel that whole thing. Fill in the pieces - what insects are on the plants? On the soil surface? What spiders spin between the branches? Wind and water, morning sun and damp soil, all that grows and moves and lives and dies and rots, if it all wanted to send a message to the thrush, how would it? How would the thrush hear?

The answer lies in the hawthorn berry.

And who is to say that a well-adapted human, exposed to the polyphenolic chemistry from the berries and fruits consumed, isn’t better integrated with the ecology around that person?

Hawthorn would say, “Yes!"

Hawthorn would encourage us to consume flowers, leaves and berries - thereby to live long, realize the benefits of herbal medicine, and spread the wild trees and plants for the benefit of bacteria, soil, air, and thrushes.

Maybe immortality means connecting to these wild signals. We live forever, if only for a moment.”

Guido Masé, RH(AHG) is a clinician and educator in the Western herbal tradition. He spent his childhood in Italy and has been living in Vermont since 1996. His practice interweaves clinical experience, mythology, and science. He is chief herbalist at Urban Moonshine, clinician at the Burlington Herb Clinic, faculty member and clinical supervisor at the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism, teacher in herbal medicine at the University of Vermont, and author of The Wild Medicine Solution and DIY Bitters. He is developing the integrative phytotherapy department at Wasso Hospital in Loliondo, Tanzania.

He has a talent for explaining complicated subjects in an interesting and understandable manner. He creates a bridge between the scientific community and the public, feeding both groups with practical information that can be used personally in the home, or with clients in a clinic.

I am an endless optimist. I believe we can have access to the amazing technologies we've developed, and stay sustainable, too - but only if we use those technologies judiciously, do not let them drive our lives, and stay connected to the ecological context that shaped, and still shapes, our phenotype (the physical incarnation of our genetic instructions).

Cell phones, yes - but put them down and walk outside without them sometimes. Antibiotics, yes - but not as a first-line intervention. Cars, yes - but not if walking or biking is practical. Cities, yes - but not without green roofs, community gardens, and eco machines.

You get the idea. Herbal medicine can teach us all this, and more.

The technologies that we've developed stand tall, almost overpowering, on the horizon as we move into the 21st century. They present us with remarkable, powerful tools. They allow us to build and work in ways we never would have thought possible even one hundred years ago. But at the same time, we're finding that these technologies present new and complex challenges: from the ecological sustainability of energy and food production, to the sometimes overwhelming hold that our information systems can have on our attention and psyche. It seems that our modern tools could eat us alive.

Already people feel a loss of connection to spirit, and creativity, and focus - which begs the question: do our technologies work for us, or are we working for our technologies?

Is there a way to harness our modern tools but also keep a firm footing in our shared humanity, our shared life on this biosphere, our shared creative source?

I am reminded of the story of Ariadne, Theseus and the minotaur. When Theseus, heir to the throne of Athens, arrived on Crete to enter the labyrinth and challenge the minotaur (generations of children had been lost to its unyielding hunger), Ariadne (the master weaver) presented him with a thread he could use to find his way back out. After killing the minotaur, his work done, Theseus was indeed able to wind his way out of the twisting passages by following the thin thread Ariadne had tied to the front entrance. Without it, even if his work had been successful, he still would have been lost.

But as the story goes, Theseus quickly forgot Ariadne, and left her behind, though she'd been the true hero in this story.

For me, plant medicine and the art of herbalism are what can help us stay connected to what really matters.

There are many reasons why this is the case, but they all come down to this: nature has built-in threads everywhere that serve to keep all the pieces of an ecological system connected and engaged, so that the whole can function well.

We see them in the stream of phytochemistry that travels from the plants, through mycorrhizae and bacteria, into the animal kingdom. This stream connects to long-preserved genetic memory: we hold plasticity in our genes, the ability to alter who we are based on environmental conditions.

And, just like caterpillars who modify the plants they consume to help deal with infections, our behavior is different when we are exposed to the phytochemical signals that weave their way through the ecology. Our appetite and metabolism change. Our mind and spirit change. Our heartbeat, the elasticity of our vessels, change as well.

Without this thread from the world around us, we suffer - especially if we work, day in and day out, in an environment that is radically different from the one in which we evolved. Most of us do.

So when we engage with the world, we incarnate into our individual reality, and inevitably we are changed by that with which we interact. This is a good thing: we learn, we grow, we evolve. But the world demands its pound of flesh: we may leave some of ourselves behind, and in some cases, we may leave it all behind. This is dangerous: the minotaur can devour us, or we can get lost forever in the labyrinth.

What we need is a charioteer, one that holds the reins of the creative spirit, the inspiration, the deep connection to life that we're all born with, and also the daily work, the technology, the physical progress we use to make our mark in the world. Give too much power to one, and you fly apart, and accomplish nothing. To the other, and your spirit dies, congeals, gets stuck, accomplishes nothing.

This charioteer is not an overpowering force, a dictator, or a containing power - rather, it is thin, and subtle, like a lighthouse in the mist. It is a thread that allows us to engage, accomplish our work, and find our way home, too, once the day is done.

It is Ariadne's thread.

For many, a spiritual practice, a loved one, or a shared passion provides this tether. But our soma, our physical body, needs this as much as our spirit does: as plant people, we are lucky to have a thread that holds both, reuniting us to the memory of home and our evolutionary context by helping to regulate our gene expression, while also igniting our spirits with the fire of the wild world, our birthright and our creative source.

The art of herbal medicine, who is Ariadne, the wise and beautiful one, hands us this thread - how can we help but fall in love?

But unlike Theseus, let us not abandon her wisdom, rather let us fight to keep her by our side. Then, we will be able to help others find her too, and they too will grasp that all-important thread, and live full lives, and thrive in the modern world.

What greater gift could we dream of? We all here are so lucky.

Guido Masé, RH(AHG) is a clinician and educator in the Western herbal tradition. He spent his childhood in Italy and has been living in Vermont since 1996. His practice interweaves clinical experience, mythology, and science. He is chief herbalist at Urban Moonshine, clinician at the Burlington Herb Clinic, faculty member and clinical supervisor at the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism, teacher in herbal medicine at the University of Vermont, and author of The Wild Medicine Solution and DIY Bitters. He is developing the integrative phytotherapy department at Wasso Hospital in Loliondo, Tanzania.

He has a talent for explaining complicated subjects in an interesting and understandable manner. He creates a bridge between the scientific community and the public, feeding both groups with practical information that can be used personally in the home, or with clients in a clinic.

Begin with your heart, your pulse. Take a moment to breathe and feel it. Just be aware of its presence. If you relax for a minute, you may actually get a perception that is noticeable – in your chest, in your hands and feet. Feel the heart on the in-breath. Feel the pulse on the out-breath.

While you are doing this, consider that diseases of the heart and blood vessels are the leading causes of death worldwide. This isn’t simply because we are living longer, or because we’ve conquered other causes of death like infections. We may have more years to ask of our hearts these days, but even this is debatable. And in pockets where life expectancy is lower in developed countries, it usually is because there is a higher rate of cardiovascular disease! In developing countries, where infections remain very prevalent and dangerous, heart disease is still the number one killer.

What do you perceive when you shift focus to your heart? First of all, if you’re like me, you may notice this is difficult to do. We tend to perceive our worlds from the perspective of our eyes and heads. Shifting consciousness into the chest is difficult. Sometimes events will force our consciousness there: grief, deep appreciation, love. We perceive these emotional states and concomitantly feel a power rise in our chests.

But what do you perceive now? Do you feel more relaxed? What about anxious? Are worries or thoughts, task lists and regrets coming up? Any increased sensitivity to internal states, like the belly, the head, your breathing? What about external states, like the temperature of the room, sounds inside and outside? Any desires come up (food, drink, movement, or others)?

The point here is that when we’re talking about the heart, we are talking about integration. Sure, the nervous system is an incredible integration system in our physiology, juggling perception and memory.

But the heart straddles all the realms of our existence; it plugs into sensory input but also the vital fluids of our physiology.

It connects the nervous system, with all its input, processing, and output, most profoundly to these fluids and this soma. Even just simply shifting awareness into the heart has quick and powerful impacts on these physiologic processes: thought and awareness shift, pulse shifts, fluid balance begins to shift (though this last one is harder to feel).

And it’s not just integration with our internal states, but with our external environment too.

It is perhaps not surprising that, in the modern world, the heart suffers. We live in our heads much more than in our bodies. There is less movement and less time spent outdoors. These may have immediately noticeable repercussions on other areas of our bodies: we are more anxious, have a hard time turning off our minds. We expend fewer calories through movement, so we gain weight. We interact less with the environment, so inevitably the environment becomes less important. Sure, these consequences exist.

Think about the heart in all this: an organ with such a profound function. It can interact with electromagnetic fields all around us, connecting us to animals, plants, and place. It can provide us with valuable intuitive information by modulating the signals of brain and body, if only we take the time to listen.

But like any skill or any power, it needs nurturing and practice to grow, and atrophies if unused or ignored.

Slowly, little by little, the heart gets less responsive, less supple, less able to integrate because we essentially deny it the opportunity. Imbalances begin to set in, driven by a lack of flexibility. Disease finally manifests as an end product: vascular inflammation, high blood pressure, rhythm disturbances, blood stagnation and clotting.

This isn’t our fault – it’s more our fate, it’s tied to our culture. But we can use magic to influence our fates.

The good news is that we can perceive, measure, and assess imbalances in the cardiovascular system. This can give us good information on the state of integration of ourselves and the people with whom we’re working. Start with the heart and the blood – the central components of the system, and a general impression and assessment of movement and flow. Then explore the deep connection between the heart and nervous system, and learn that the flow of blood can be used as a gauge of how well the cardiovascular system is contributing to psyche and soma – heaven and earth – as well as how responsive the heart itself is to internal neuronal integration. Finally look at the state of our distributed internal ocean: the interstitial fluid and how it connects with the flow of blood and the health of the heart. Get the rest of this story in a free BotanicWise online class: Resonance of the Heart with Guido Masé.

Cardiovascular issues touch the lives of over 84 million people in the US, and remains the leading cause of death for both men and women. Hypertension, high cholesterol, heart disease, inflammation, peripheral artery disease and even diabetes are disconcerting conditions that many people struggle with but seldom know the best options for natural treatment and prevention.

Cardiovascular disease can happen to anyone. Taking a proactive approach to support healthy cardiovascular function is the best way to prevent more serious issues as we age. Many preventive measures can be taken naturally, by learning how to self-evaluate so you can promote optimal function and eliminate lifestyle factors that undermine cardiovascular health.

I am excited to share with you an exciting opportunity to learn more about supporting your cardiovascular health naturally from one of the brightest teachers in the herbal world, Guido Masé. In a new 6-week online BotanicWise course, Natural Cardio Care: An Herbalist’s Perspective, Guido will guide us through the various components of self-evaluation for better cardiovascular health.

Guido has a talent for explaining complicated subjects in an interesting and understandable manner. He creates a bridge between the scientific community and the public, feeding both groups with practical information that can be used personally in the home, or with clients in a clinic.

Natural Cardio Care is designed to empower both individuals dealing with cardiovascular issues AND clinicians wanting to broaden their therapeutic options for clients.

Each week, in addition to core classes taught by Guido, a special guest speaker will be featured, sharing a unique perspective on how we can support our cardiovascular system naturally. Joining the guest list is Christopher Hobbs, Kerry Smith, Tammi Sweet, Deb Soule and Kat Maier.

Check out the full course description here, and if you are interested, use the coupon code HAPPYHEART to receive $20 off.

The course begins Monday January 21 and wraps up Thursday March 7.

This course features live classes, with the option to watch replays until August 2019. Best of all you will walk away with your own customized natural heart care program that you will create through self-evaluations. If you are a practitioner these methods can be used to work with your clients.

Before going into the 11 things, what’s the point of living a long life?

Now that the holidays are behind us we all want to “drink more water, get sleep, eat less sugar,” but if this is all we needed to know we’d be doing it already. If not you… then you know someone who struggles to maintain healthy habits (I’m willing to bet we all do).

The new year is busy at the gym, but come March everything’s back to normal.

Something is missing – and a good understanding of Longevity is right at the heart of it. We need to talk about this, about living a long life… and what’s the point?

What difference will we make?

This time of long nights lends itself to reflecting on the years past and to looking towards the brighter times of the new year.

What do we really want to bring in? What can we offer our collective of fellow beings on this planet? What unique expression of the light can you bring forward to help us all along? How best to do it?

One simple answer to how is from a place of thriving – kindling our inner nourishment so we may nourish others.

No matter what age we claim on our birthday, longevity speaks to an inner thriving.

A foundational teaching paradigm for me is to ask how I would teach this to alien’s who’ve just arrived here and wants to know more about human life on earth? It helps me try to get out of the thinking ruts we often entrench ourselves in.

Plus, we are a funny species and it’s always good to laugh a bit.

So it is with this “alien teaching paradigm” that I offer my eleven ideas for longevity. Sometimes we just need to get back to basics. I bet if you paused right now, took out a piece of paper and a pen, you could come up with your own list. What would you offer aliens? Or first graders?

What is this list really about? Thriving.

How can we cultivate a life that allows us to walk into our elder wisdom years with a vitality to share what we’ve learned?

The world needs the wisdom of the elders to guide us, to help us understand what’s truly important. Wisdom keepers are treasures for the whole community.

Some things to ponder:

We are the cycle, the cycle of life and our body will shift and change. Our energies and desires will change. It’s natural.

Wrinkles are inevitable

So let’s jump into the list – or think of it more as a guided questionnaire.

1. Right Relationship

With ourselves, each other, the natural world, the divine. Quite simply, it all begins with gratitude. Gratitude is the fastest track home to your heart, to the seat of divinity within you.

Every major belief system teaches this truth. Find anything you are truly grateful for and embody the feeling. Start the day with a gratitude practice as simple or elaborate as you have time for and pay attention to how the day unfolds. How is it different than days when you don’t start this way?

2. Balanced Living

Are we living a life conducive to vitality, health & wellness? Right now, you can answer the question….you know whether the yin/yang, fight/flight/rest/digest forces inside you swing evenly back and forth.

How can you bring balance back? Small steps.

3. Diet

Not what you think, and nothing extreme. As Americans we think the answer to all our woes is diet. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not. What we put in our bodies physically is a piece of the puzzle, not the whole thing. Ok my alien friends, here’s a few questions to ask your wise self:

How does your food make you feel?

Do you wake up rejuvenated?

Do you run out of energy at the end of the day?

Do you have brain fog?

The answers to these questions give you information about how the food you eat nourishes you, especially the first question. It’s that simple. How does the food, or stuff we call food, make you feel? We must pay attention to know the answer.

I feel your pain - my last name is “Sweet” for goodness sake!. The first step is admitting there’s a problem. The obesity epidemic and diabetes mellitus being in the top ten killers and most expensive healthcare treatments in the U.S. gives us measurable evidence of the problem with eating too much sugar.

5. Drink More Water

When I worked for Outward Bound, that was our standard answer to almost every complaint. It’s a good place to start with thriving as well. 2-4 quarts per day of unfluoridated water.

6. Breathe

The physiological difference between anxiety and excitement?

A full deep breath.

We Americans don’t breathe well.

What is breathing well? It’s deep full belly breaths that actually cause your stomach to distend. Oxygen-rich air filling your entire lungs, not just the upper third. A direct link neurologically exists between the breathing center of your brain and engagement of the parasympathetic nervous system, known affectionately as the “rest and digest” system. Yogi’s have known this for thousands of years and have a whole branch of yoga dedicated to the benefits of breathing called, pranayama.

7. Move Your Body

Movement throughout your life should not change. The impact and speed of your movement might change. We are designed to move. Everything physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually works better when we move.

The minimum movement to keep your joints, fascia, bones and muscles healthy is three miles per day.

Want to keep inflammation down and your heart healthy? 45 minutes a day of 60-75% of your maximum heart rate EVERY DAY, all at one time.

Exercise and mood share the same chemistry. The number one intervention for S.A.D. and mild depression is exercise – not pharmaceuticals, not herbs, not acupuncture. Move your body and even better if you do it outside.

8. Rest

The average American sleep 6.8 hours per night, down from 9.5 hours in 1900. We have not evolved in 118 years to need 2.7 hours less sleep per night. That is impossible.

We need 8-9 hours sleep per night for optimum functioning of our body. Our organs have “night jobs” with functions they can only perform when we are in deep sleep, and they can’t get to these jobs during the day.

Shut down your wifi.

Remove all light from your room.

Go to bed. If you want to really dial it in, go to bed before 10:00 pm.

My teacher Rosemary says, “Try getting 2-3 weeks of good night’s sleep before launching into some new program or making a major life decision.”

9. Superfoods

Yes, there are some nutrient dense foods to help us thrive. Spirulina, seaweed, flax, nettles, green algae, foods rich in B-Vitamins, foods rich in lutein (blue pigmented fruits and veggies).

10. Longevity Herbs

Ask 100 herbalists what their favorite adaptogenic herbs are and you’ll get probably 50 different answers.

Adaptogenic herbs help us “adapt” to stressful situations. They are nontoxic by nature and can be taken on a daily basis. They are herbs that increase the body’s ability to respond and increase our resilience.

My personal favorites are nettles, tulsi, ashwagandha and milky oat tops. I love them and I can grow them in my garden.

Please work with herbs you either grow yourself or buy from a reputable grower who does not harvest from the wild, depleting precious resources. Check out (and become a member) United Plant Savers for more information on this.

11. Expand Your Mind

One way to think of this category is to put yourself in new situations. Learn new skills, have tea with someone you wouldn’t normally. Give your well-worn neural grooves a new path.

There are well known and long used herbs to help expand our consciousness, mugwort, cannabis, psilocybin mushrooms to name a few of the plant allies in sacred relationship with us humans.

Fasting, solo questing, sweat lodge, all of these are designed to alter our consciousness and help us see the world in a new way. Expanding our mind can be as simple as going to the places on the earth that help us remember our “right size”. Old growth trees, the ocean, mountains, waterfalls….places where divinity whispers gently in our ear, “welcome home”.

So there you have it friends – That’s my list for longevity and vibrant living. Perhaps you could wander over to your journal in this contemplative time before the new year to make your own list of how you will feel more vibrant and alive so you can bring your gifts forward into the world that so desperately needs it right now. ~Tammi

Tammi Sweet is a researcher, educator, guest lecturer, and co-founder of Heartstone Center for Earth Essentials in Van Etten, NY. She will be a featured guest speaker on Natural Cardio Care with Guido Masé where she will talk about the effects of CBD and cannabis on cardiovascular health.

Wikipedia defines heart rate variability (HRV) as the “physiological phenomenon of variation in the time interval between heartbeats.” Furthermore it is “measured by the variation in the beat-to-beat interval.” This might seem like a piece of boring information, until you dig a little deeper and find out that HRV is a predictor of how likely a person is to survive a heart attack. More specifically a reduction in this variability of the heart, in a sense the less responsive to change or stimulation, the more likely a person is to die after suffering a myocardial infarction.

There is a lot more to this story…and it’s a fascinating one.

We all strive to find that state of creative "flow", when playful attention maximizes our ability to find new ideas, become inspired, and create our best work. By observing network behavior between brain and heart we can learn how heart rate variability serves as an objective measure of how "resonant" we are, and how "in tune" we may be with our current circumstances.

Simple attention to our pulse can give us useful insight into heart rate variability. Can we improve this variability through attention and practice? Are there herbs and practices that can help maximize it?

Guido Masé, RH(AHG) is a clinician and educator in the Western herbal tradition. He spent his childhood in Italy and has been living in Vermont since 1996. His practice interweaves clinical experience, mythology, and science.

He is chief herbalist at Urban Moonshine, clinician at the Burlington Herb Clinic, faculty member and clinical supervisor at the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism, teacher in herbal medicine at the University of Vermont, and author of The Wild Medicine Solution and DIY Bitters. He is developing the integrative phytotherapy department at Wasso Hospital in Loliondo, Tanzania.

He has a talent for explaining complicated subjects in an interesting and understandable manner. He creates a bridge between the scientific community and the public, feeding both groups with practical information that can be used personally in the home, or with clients in a clinic.

His new BotanicWise online course, Natural Cardio Care begins January 21 and is designed to empower both individuals dealing with cardiovascular issues AND clinicians wanting to broaden their therapeutic options for clients.

Love, death, rebirth – such is the cycle of fertility and renewal.

Perhaps none knew this better than the Mesoamerican cultures that dwelled in present-day Mexico and Central America. Over one thousand years ago, in the rainforest that covers the slopes of the mountains in Western Yucatán, a Maya ruler enshrined this allegory on the lid of his tomb – in a story told by plants.

Pakal the Great, who ruled Palenque for over sixty years, is pictured in a state of transition: beneath him opens the mouth of the serpent of the underworld while above him, sprouting from his belly, a tree of life fills the sky. Pakal embodies the corn god, who dies, buries himself, and is reborn as magical plants: most notably, the cacao tree.

The ancient Maya, along with the Olmec before them and the Aztec after, revered cacao and its chocolate preparations.

These were most often liquid and used for love and fertility as much as for sustenance and renewal. The healers of these cultures, who saw no separation between body and spirit and sought to nurture ch’ulel, or “life-force”, knew that cacao works on that key nexus of love and life: the human heart. In fact, cacao pods full of liquid chocolate were used ritually as a stand-in for a sacrificial heart: dark, red, thick as blood, eating cacao renewed this all-important organ.

Some may say that love requires a strong and open heart, and when we speak of lost love, we still call it a broken heart.

Sexual arousal and pleasure also thrive on love, and a strong circulation and blood flow are required for making love. This all – love, heart, blood, arousal – is wrapped together fairly inextricably, just as the ancient Maya said, and we are seeing in the modern research record that chocolate works on this deep knot of human nature. While cacao has always been legendary for its effects on libido, sexual function, and attraction, today we are learning more and more about its powerful effects on the cardiovascular system.

The cacao pods pictured here hold the seeds that transform into delicious chocolate. This photo was taken at the Himalayan Institute, home of Moka chocolate.

Chocolate, with regular use, seems to provide excellent support for the heart and blood vessels. Reviews of clinical research focus on stroke prevention in men and women, blood pressure control, heart disease prevention, and improved blood flow due to more dilated, or “open”, vessels.

It turns out that a healthy cardiovascular system may be one of the most important factors for good sexual arousal: the two go hand-in-hand, a fact as true for men as it is for women. This makes even more sense when you learn that chocolate can help support micro-circulation and sensation in the skin and erogenous zones of the body. The tissue has to be warm, full of blood, and super-sensitive for arousal to take place.

To me, the lesson chocolate offers is that we are all lovers at heart – but that we must consistently renew our hearts, as we renew our love, to maintain openness and trust.

Through these open channels passion and desire are sure to flow, but so are blood and life-force. A good heart means great sex, just as great sex nourishes the heart. And chocolate strengthens both together! What a perfect ritual to share, for intimacy but also long life.

Herbalists can enhance and amplify the flavor and benefits of chocolate using a little sweet honey and herbs, much as the ancient Maya did, to create the perfect heart-healthy aphrodisiac formula. Generally, spicy plants such as cayenne (Capsicum annuum) or damiana (Turnera diffusa), both native to the same region where cacao is found wild, circulatory support from botanicals like hawthorn berry (Crataegus spp.), and tonics like maca (Lepidium meyenii) or ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) are all combined to reinforce the arousal, circulatory stimulation, and vitality enhancement of the chocolate.

You may come to these potions as a great treat to get closer to your partner, or as a delicious way to keep your blood vessels healthy. But in either case, you will experience renewal just as the ancient cacao lords did, and unlock your lover’s heart.

Guido Masé, RH(AHG) is a clinician and educator in the Western herbal tradition. He spent his childhood in Italy and has been living in Vermont since 1996. His practice interweaves clinical experience, mythology, and science.

He is chief herbalist at Urban Moonshine, clinician at the Burlington Herb Clinic, faculty member and clinical supervisor at the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism, teacher in herbal medicine at the University of Vermont, and author of The Wild Medicine Solution and DIY Bitters. He is developing the integrative phytotherapy department at Wasso Hospital in Loliondo, Tanzania.

He has a talent for explaining complicated subjects in an interesting and understandable manner. He creates a bridge between the scientific community and the public, feeding both groups with practical information that can be used personally in the home, or with clients in a clinic.

His new online course, Natural Cardio Care is designed to empower both individuals dealing with cardiovascular issues AND clinicians wanting to broaden their therapeutic options for clients.

The first day of winter dawned warm and rainy - a balmy 62 degrees by 6:30am! In northeastern Pennsylvania that is close to a record high for this time of year. For me winter, warm or not, is a time for reflection and study. The quiet of the farm gives me time indoors to read and catch up on my research.

Looking for the perfect gift to give your beloved herbalist? Or maybe you are ready to enhance your own herbal studies this winter? I have collected a little list of upcoming opportunities from some of the best herbal teachers I know:

NaturalCardioCare with GuidoMasé: An Herbalist’s Perspective. Learn more about natural heart care in this exciting new 6-week online BotanicWise course. Starting live Monday January 21 this course covers a wide range of heart health topics including hypertension and high cholesterol. Guest speakers will augment the core material: Christopher Hobbs, Tammi Sweet, Kerry Smith, Kat Maier and Deb Soule. Use the coupon HAPPYHEART to save $20. LEARN MORE.

Ready to study in-depth with Tammi Sweet? Tammi is offering her online courses: Anatomy and Physiology, An Herbalist’s Guide; Transition Zones Advanced Physiology; and the ever popular Endocannabinoid System & Cannabis Materia Medica. She also has some fantastic FREE classes: Love Your Liver; Inflammation Actually and Physiology with Heart. You can learn more about these courses HERE. (Your tuition for any of these courses helps support Botanicwise and the MidAtlantic Women’s Herbal Conference).

The Alchemist’s Kitchen Outpost at the Stockton Farmer’s Market in Stockton, NJ is looking for teachers. Are you an herbalist, proficient in healing modalities, new/full moon facilitator, self-care advisor? They offer introductory, mini classes to the local community on Saturday's from 11am-12:30pm. Please contact Dawn Selene at dawn@evolver.net for more information.

Figuring out what to eat during a cleanse, or a healing diet, can pose a big hurdle even for a confident cook. Since the start of my online course, Keeping Your Brain Brilliant, I have been doing an elimination diet and posting about it daily on the Facebook group, Clear the Mental Clutter. My biggest challenge is managing my blood sugar, especially on heavy work days. In my search for easy-to-make delicious recipes that also keep me satisfied, I came up with this super-easy soup.

INGREDIENTS:

2-3 cups pureed pumpkin

3 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1-2 yellow onions, sliced

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1 jalapeño, seeded and sliced

2 heaping tablespoons ghee

salt and pepper to taste

Sauté onions and jalapeño in ghee until soft. Add garlic and cook an additional minute.

Place all ingredients except salt and pepper in a powerful blender, such as Vitamix. Puree, starting slow and increasing blender speed to high. Be sure blender lid is on!

Pour into a clean soup kettle and heat gently. Season with salt and pepper. Thin with additional stock or coconut cream to preferred consistency.

If you could do something plain and simple now to prevent a future decline in your brain health, wouldn’t you want to know about it? Many of us get worried when our memory isn’t quite as sharp as it used to be, or we can’t focus and think as clearly as we want to. Even so, until brain function is in overt decline, most of us are offered few or no options for recovering healthy brain function before it is too late.

In my late twenties I helplessly watched my grandmother slowly slip into dementia. One day when I stopped by for a visit, I shared with her that I had just been to a baptism. I was dismayed when she responded, “Oh my! Was there a lot of blood?” What had happened to my brilliant grandmother? Where had she gone? Right then and there I wanted answers for her brain health, and for my own, fearful that I harbored a gene that would one day express in the complete loss of self.

A year later, in gross anatomy class, I held a three pound brain in my hands. The mass of grey lumpy sausages looked like an impossible mystery. How could this be the orchestrator of thought and bodily function?

In that moment my journey began into the inner workings of our brain and nervous system. I dove with greedy interest into neurology and years later into the latest research in natural support for better brain function. Right then and there a tiny seed was planted. That seed has now blossomed into Keeping Your Brain Brilliant, my 6-week online course dedicated to helping individuals craft their own natural brain care program. This course comes from my heart: my zeal for the workings of the human body, my passion for using plants as medicine and my love for my Grandmother. May many future grandmothers and grandfathers benefit from this offering.

There are only a few days left to register for Keeping Your Brain Brilliant with Dr. Charis Lindrooth. The first live class will be Monday, October 22, 7 PM EST. All live classes will be recorded and available as replays until August, 2019

Here’s what’s best about this course:

Information is presented in an easy-to-understand format. Learning can be fun!

Guest speakers each week add to the rich content with their own unique perspective on brain health.

While the course runs live for 6 weeks, you have 10 months to complete and review the material.

BEST of all? Using weekly self-assessments, you will be guided through the steps so that you can create your own custom, natural brain care protocol. In just 6 weeks you will be well on your way to better cognitive health.

Thursday November 29: Final Roundup: Q&A Session with Dr. Charis Lindrooth. By this time you will have a rough draft of your natural brain care protocol. Bring your questions and she will help you solidify your plan.

What people are saying about this course:

“I am loving the class you are teaching now and can’t wait to learn more!! The more we know the better! Your teaching brings it to a place that is both easy to understand and empowering. Thank you!” ~ Cheryl

“More than any other source of information, from books and medical guides, Charis' organized presentation has helped me make sense of and find tools for addressing my own early cognitive issues that 5 years ago accompanied a host of other autoimmune symptoms. I would highly recommend this.” ~ Donna

I love fat...eating it, that is. Even with the recent publicity about the benefits of eating fat and the detrimental effects of avoiding it completely, many people still reach for low fat items in the grocery aisle. Since our brain is 60% fat, there is some research that suggests a low fat diet might be detrimental to brain health.

Dr. Ludwig points to insulin as a type of “Miracle Grow for your fat cells.” When we eat too many refined carbohydrates, a habit that often results when we are avoiding fat, our pancreas releases a rush of insulin. Insulin is a good thing. It acts like an usher escorting glucose molecules out of the blood, where it can wreak havoc, into the cells of the body where it is needed for energy production. Too much sugar intake is handily stored as fat, a sort of storage unit to be used when food later becomes scarce. But when our carb intake rises, insulin does too, and persistent levels of insulin create a myriad of problems which ultimately leads to Type II and Type III diabetes. Chronic high levels of insulin not only strain the pancreas, but also keep us feeling hungry, never satiated, and make it impossible for us to burn the fat we are so busy stockpiling.

Dr. Ludwig states that the simplest way to reduce chronically high insulin is to eat more fat. Ironically his research indicates that a healthy intake of fat reduces our cravings for sugary foods, helps us feel full and helps us maintain healthy blood sugar and insulin levels. There is evidence that periodic fasting is also helpful, since it helps to make the cells more responsive to insulin, potentially decreasing the need for higher and higher levels of insulin to clear the blood stream of glucose.

I wish this meant we could eat ice cream for breakfast, and potato chips for lunch. By now, most of my dedicated readers know without a doubt that there is a difference between healthy and not so healthy fats. Naturally, one can only achieve good health at the hands of healthy fats - foods like avocados that contain raw, unadulterated nourishment. Cold water fish like salmon, raw nuts and seeds, eggs from chickens that eat vegetation and insects regularly, grass-fed and finished meats are a few examples.

This same principle can be applied to healthy brain function as well. A diet rich in certain fats maybe essential to maintain a youthful, high-functioning brain. Furthermore, managing chronically elevated insulin levels is one of the fastest ways to support healthy cognition and promote longevity.

Food is a big deal. Our inner “hunter-gatherer” is wired to think about it a lot, and to seek it out, and of course to eat as much as possible, even when we aren’t hungry. If we are what we eat it makes perfect sense that taking a look at what we are ingesting is one of the first steps towards better health, including healthy brain function.

Eating the same foods, even nutritious ones, day after day can lead to a leaky gut as well as immune intolerance to these foods. This intolerance creates a pro-inflammatory internal environment. In your brain this might simply feel like brain fatigue, or cloudy thinking. Elsewhere in your body you might feel joint pain, muscle aches, migrating pains and a disturbed digestion. Such inflammation can exacerbate other inflammatory conditions such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis or other autoimmune diseases.

If you’re like me, the thought of restricting foods that you eat on a regular basis is overwhelming. It’s easy to put up blocks to making changes in your diet, and for me, the mental back and forth game justifying why chocolate and dairy have no ill effects on my health is almost amusing.

Almost.

When symptoms of cognitive dysfunction, or health issues arise, it’s time to get serious.

Changing what you eat can be one of the least expensive and yet most effective ways to improve both brain and overall health. The good news is that an elimination diet is simple, effective and best of all short-term.

A side-effect to this protocol? A reboot to your metabolism. So if you have been stuck trying to lose weight, this might be the key to helping you shed unwanted pounds. The ultimate goal is to identify foods that trigger your immune system while healing your leaky gut so that the cycle does not persist.

How to get started?

The first step is to make a game plan. Identify the yes and no foods and stock your larder with foods for success. You may also need to completely clean out the “don’t” foods from the kitchen so that you aren’t tempted during the challenge. Eliminating foods that you currently rely on for satisfying meals can lead to blood sugar crashes if you aren’t ready with replacements that you enjoy.

Remember, food is a wonderful adventure. We are created to enjoy it. Any diet that leaves you feeling deprived, miserable and depressed is going to make a new set of problems to deal with. Open-mindedness and creativity are two super helpful tools as you venture forward.

Craft your own personal list of “Do’s” and “Don’ts.” Then choose your start and end date. 4-6 weeks is ideal, but progress can be made with even two weeks. Aim for success. You can always start slow and work your way up to hard core. After your final week of elimination you have the fun of re-introducing your favorite foods, watching for symptoms. Only try one food group at a time, so you do not get confused about which foods are giving you trouble. If your symptoms worsen with the reintroduction of a food, then that’s your sign to keep it out of your diet until your gut and body have healed.

Do you want community support on this topic? Join Clear the Mental Clutter on Facebook where we are doing an elimination challenge together.

I’ve always believed in magic. It’s irresistible.

Still, so many days of my adult years have been occupied with the stress of responsibilities that coincide with being grown up, that, until recently, I had all but forgotten to look for it.

Magic has resurfaced in my life. Maybe I just got a little more grown up so I got closer to the other side of childhood and I am now open to seeing it again.

Or maybe its just a more magical year than last. Is that possible? If you’re shrugging your shoulder and saying, “What on earth is she talking about now?” Let me explain.

My eight-year-old daughter is the one who has re-openend my eyes to the wonder all about me.

Something happened to me when she was born. Something like relief. I’m still pondering that sensation, and watching it grow.

My heart is so comfortably planted next to hers, our rootlets touching and sharing nutrients.

I am taller, and see a broader view, and she is littler and finds the most extraordinary miracles in the nature around our feet. I gently teach her all I can about healing with plants, about kindness, about life purpose, about forgiving, loving, caring, making a difference and about strength and gentleness. She teaches me to play, to stop, to read, to laugh, to hold hands, to cuddle, to eat ice cream, to splash in the water, to examine bugs up close and care for creatures of all sorts, to run fast and jump high, and to remember to just be me.

I crave space to be just Mom and daughter.

Sometimes these mindful moments together happen briefly after school, or just before bed, or on a Sunday morning. But often the busy-ness of life distracts me from mindful parenting. I’m so focused on finishing whatever pressing task is at hand, that I don’t stop to really hear her, or watch her, or sit with her. Sometimes it is easier to keep pushing ahead, than to stop and listen.

I recently returned from teaching at the New England Women’s Herbal Conference. 800 women stepped out of their normal routine and gathered that weekend at Camp Wicosuta in New Hampshire. Founded by the truly magical Rosemary Gladstar, a tremendous kinship with plant medicine bound the women together for three days. Women from all walks of life shared their stories and wisdom and a spirit of gentle empowerment resonated with many of us.

The weekend was nearly perfect in my eyes. New friends and connections made there will persist for years and years. Many mothers brought their daughters, and some daughters, such as Rosemary, brought their mothers. Rosemary’s mother, in her 90s reigned supreme, her heart full of love and joy. I think she dished out over 400 hugs a day.

I resolved to return next year, this time with my daughter. I recognize how much there is for her to learn amongst this broad rainbow of wise women. And I realize that this is one of the most potent places to just be mom and daughter together.

Part of the reason I founded the MidAtlantic Women’s Herbal Conference, the baby-sister conference of Rosemary’s, was for her. She was just 1 year old the first year, and I hope she will make it every year until I am 92, and our roles are reversed. My dear mother attends every year also. And maybe someday I will lure my sister here from South Dakota with her daughter.

This I know for certain. An education happens for her, and for me, at this gathering, that is unattainable at any school, that is hard to explain to someone who hasn’t been, and that sustains that little ember of magic within us and between us.

Maybe that is the key.

The plants bring us together and work a little magic in our quest for healing and wholeness. This magic kindles relationship and love, a potent medicine that is within all of us.

Join Mara and I at our 8th Annual gathering celebrating plants and togetherness, September 28-30. LEARN MORE

I recently returned home from the New England Women's Herbal Conference where I had the honor as a featured teacher, sharing my work on natural brain care, immunity and autoimmunity. My heart is filled at these gatherings. I have such joy connected with friends and learning new things from the other amazing teachers.

Last year I met Kathi Keville. Kathi has been in love with plants for more than 30 years. Friends with Rosemary Gladstar, she took part in the modern American herbal renaissance. She lives in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, in a home surrounded by her own botanical sanctuary. She has collected more than 450 medicinal plants, and has a special interest in aromatic plants. She makes her own essential oils and teaches aromatherapy and herbal medicine from her garden.

Kathi teaches classes about plant medicine from her garden classroom.

Kathi will be coming to the MidAtlantic Women's Herbal Conference in just a few weeks. She will be teaching aromatherapy and women's health and promises to bring some of her favorite plants from her garden. I can't wait to see her treasures and learn from her. View the entire Conference Schedule.

Kathi Keville lives surrounded by Green Medicine Herb School gardens, cultivating more than 450 medicinal plant species. She has been offering seminars for over 40 years on herbs, aromatherapy, and sustainable foraging in North America and Europe. Kathi has written 15 herb books, over 150 magazine articles, and has a KVMR radio show and Dish TV aromatherapy show. She is director of the American Herb Association director. www.ahaherb.com

According to the Harvard Mahoney Neuroscience Institute dance "has such beneficial effects on the brain that it is now being used to treat people with Parkinson’s disease, a progressive neurological movement disorder.”

Actually both music and the coordinated movements (in other words dancing) seem to play a role in brain health. While music activates the brain’s reward centers, dance stimulates sensory and motor pathways.

In 2003, a study published by researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that dance produces a definite benefit for brain health. Examining the benefit leisure activities had on the risk of dementia, the study found that of all the activities studied (dance, cycling, golf, swimming, tennis and more) only dance proved to be protective against dementia.

My husband and I took a day off together. A rare thing for us in the summer, since he spends many hours farming and farmer’s-marketing. Of course we chose to do something “plantsy,” and ended up at Chanticleer garden in Wayne, Pennsylvania. We had listened to many of our friends sigh over the beauty and romance of the place for years, and so finally cleared a little space to be together, outside, in someone else’s garden.

We strolled along the smooth winding path only a few moments before I slipped my hand in his, and our mutual dream of creating a “hobby” garden on the farm sprung to both of our lips. We walked ever so mindfully and slowly, taking in flora both great and small.

I sighed with delight over the hidden spiral staircase, laden with a bower of green and crowned at top by a tiny, yet inviting secret door.

We hugged mighty oaks, too big for our arms to stretch around...actually, I did the hugging and the Farmer looked at me with a small amount of embarrassment.

We peered at giant, chubby koi fish who looked back at us with the exact same expression our chocolate lab gives us when we sit at the dinner table.

And we sat on the cool stone wall beneath towering white pines, listening to the gentle swish of a water wheel behind us, swatting the occasional mosquito.

The longer we walked, the quieter we became. A good kind of quiet that happens when the internal chatter in our brain finally steps aside and lets us remember to feel, to connect, to drink in the beauty around us.

In that moment I came upon a small ginkgo tree, with a variegated leaf, This plant speaks to me. I fell in love with it as a child, sitting in the crook of its branches, pretending I was riding a galloping horse. The fan-shaped leaves, green in summer, turn pure yellow in fall. When the leaves are first touched with yellow in late summer they make a wonderful tonic remedy for the circulatory and nervous systems.

Ginkgo has a movie-star-reputation as an aid for the memory, and in fact it has been shown to improve cerebral circulation and so give memory and recall a boost. Since it dilates blood vessels, allowing the circulation to move more freely it is thought to be useful for impaired circulation that occurs in conditions such as Raynaud’s Syndrome, peripheral neuropathy and some migraines.

This same characteristic might explain it’s usefulness for tinnitus (persistent ringing in the ears) and impaired cognitive function. It is thought that both of these conditions can be helped with improved circulation to the head.

Ginkgo has also taken a key role in an herbal protocol for post-concussion and post-stroke victims, alongside bacopa, rosemary, gotu kola, hypericum and conventional medical treatment when appropriate.

Ginkgo is contraindicated in anyone suffering from vascular headaches or aneurisms, and the plant should be used with caution with MAO inhibitors (some anti-depressant medications) as well as with blood thinners, such as heparin.